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DEAL, N.J. – It
was the first head-to-head meeting between two U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur
champions, but in the first round of match play, Terri Frohnmayer advanced to
Tuesday’s Round of 32 with a 6-and-4 win over Carol Semple Thompson at
Hollywood Golf Club.

I made a few
good putts today and played solidly, said Frohnmayer, the 2011 champion
competing in her fourth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. It certainly wasn’t
Carol’s best game today, but I was honored to play with a legend.

The two champions
halved the first three holes. Frohnmayer went 1 up on the par-3 fourth hole
after Thompson’s tee shot landed in a greenside bunker and then burrowed
somewhere in tall fescue grass. Thompson was forced to declare a lost ball and
Frohnmayer won the hole.

Frohnmayer
went 2 up on No. 6 when she drained a 22-foot birdie putt, and added another
birdie from 15 feet on the eighth hole for a 3-up lead.

I made some
good putts, which I haven’t done in the last few days, said Frohnmayer, 58, of
Salem, Ore. But it’s hard to get your shots close on these greens for birdie.

Thompson ran
into more trouble on the 10th green, conceding the hole, which gave Frohnmayer
a 4-up lead.

I had a lot
of bad shots and a couple of bad breaks today, said Thompson, 65, of
Sewickley, Pa., winner of four consecutive U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur titles from
1999 to 2002.

Throughout
the round, Thompson, playing in her 124th USGA championship, struggled with her
longer clubs. That put pressure on the rest of her game to salvage holes
against the steady-handed Frohnmayer, who missed very few opportunities to
capitalize.

I hit my
driver badly and I even hit some grounders, said Thompson. I’m just not
making good contact with the ball and that’s the way I’ve been playing for a while.

Frohnmayer
went 5-up on No. 11, but gave it back on No. 12 when Thompson won her only hole
of the match.

Frohnmayer
fought back and regained a 5-up advantage on the 13th hole when Thompson
conceded a 15-foot putt. She closed out the match when she won the 14th hole
with a bogey.

She played
well and she’s very solid, Thompson said. She also made some good recovery
putts today.

Frohnmayer
credited superb conditions that enabled her to advance through the first
round of match play, but admitted she is motivated this year after being
eliminated in the first round of the 2012 championship.

I’ve come
all the way from Oregon to play in this championship and I want to stay as long
as possible, said Frohnmayer, owner of a commercial real estate company. I’d
like to see this part of New Jersey, but just not so quickly.

Playing in
her 16th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Thompson was disappointed with her round,
in which she was an uncharacteristic 12 over par, with the usual match-play
concessions.

It’s fun to
play in USGA events, but it’s hard, said Thompson, a member of the World Golf
Hall of Fame and the Senior Women’s Amateur match play record holder with 47
wins and 12 losses. It’s hard not to play as well as I’m used to playing.
We’ll see what happens next summer and just go from there.

As for
Frohnmayer, she will face Caryn Wilson, of Rancho Mirage, Calif., in Tuesday’s
Round of 32, with the prospect of facing newly-minted 50-year-olds if she
advances through the draw.

They get
younger and hit it farther, but it’s golf and it’s match play, and anything can
happen, she said.

Kyrinis’ Putt Caps Canada’s Perfect
Day

Canada’s
ascent in women’s amateur golf isn’t limited to the junior ranks, as evidenced
by Monday’s 3-for-3 performance in the Round of 64 of the U.S. Senior Women’s
Amateur Championship.

It was Judith
Kyrinis, 50, of Canada who emerged victorious in a see-saw match against Nancy
Kromar to complete the perfect day, with fellow competitor and countrywoman
Terrill Samuel – Samuel cruised to an 8-and-6 victory against Heidy Munn
earlier – following the action.

On the par-4
first hole (19th of the match), Kyrinis seemed to be in good shape to seal the
deal. Kromar was 15 feet away after four shots, while Kyrinis was hitting her
third from a seemingly good lie in the right greenside bunker. However, Kyrinis
bladed her pitch and flew the green by about 30 feet. She recovered with a
lofted shot from the rough which landed 20 feet from the hole. She calmly
drained the long putt and watched as Kromar missed her 15-footer 6 inches
short.

"I just
took a deep breath and stayed with it," she said. "I saw the line
well. I was there earlier in the day and had a good feel for the putt. The
couple putts before, I hadn't really put a good stroke on it. I finally put a
good stroke on one."

Kyrinis was
more excited about Canada’s performance. The first thing she did was ask if
Terrill and Helene Chartrand had won their matches. The rise of golf in Canada
is a great source of pride.

"We're
really stepping up with Golf Canada," said Kyrinis, who texts on a daily
basis with four-time USGA champion and three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur
champion Marlene Stewart Streit. "It all starts with our provincial programs
and regional programs. We're really trying to build the depth of the team. I
think we have a really great program and a lot of great people in place. For me,
being a senior player, I really love seeing what Golf Canada is doing and I'm
really proud to be out here wearing the Canadian gear."

Haines Makes Match-Play Return

Despite her
hard-fought 2-and-1 defeat against Patricia Brogden in Monday’s Round of 64,
Elizabeth Haines left the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Hollywood
Golf Club with more accolades to add to the family name.

Haines, 66,
of Gladwyne, Pa., got into the field as an alternate after losing in a playoff
against good friends Noreen Mohler and Bonnie George in the Glen Mills, Pa.,
qualifier. She made the most of the opportunity, finishing in a tie for 13th in
stroke-play qualifying and falling just short in her comeback bid against
Brogden.

It was the
first time Haines advanced to match play in eight years.

"All
your work from 2006 on – you don't stop working toward it when you don't
qualify," she said. "So, you keep working and hoping days like yesterday
will pop into your life. It's just a lot of hard work and it's great to be
here. The highlight of any amateur’s career is to play in a USGA
championship."

A member at
2013 U.S. Open venue Merion Golf Club, Haines spends a lot of her time with her
four grandchildren, who all live nearby in the Philadelphia area.

Haines’ late
husband, George, who passed away in 2008, was quite an accomplished golfer and
has multiple USGA ties. George grew up in Far Hills, N.J., where the USGA is
headquartered, and won two New Jersey State Amateurs. He played in 10 U.S.
Amateurs and qualified for the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak Hill.

George was
also a good writer, who penned The Golf School section of Golf Journal, which at one time served
as the USGA’s official publication.

I was a
pretty good player, but he was a great player, Elizabeth said. Qualifying for
the U.S. Open as an amateur is one heck of an accomplishment.

Lisa D. Mickey is a Florida-based freelance
writer whose work has previously appeared on USGA websites. Joey Flyntz is an
associate writer for the USGA. Email him at jflyntz@usga.org.